A Rogue Angel
by fringeperson
Summary: ONESHOT. DO NOT OWN. COMPLETE. She didn't have wings, and he certainly didn't, but a familiar book reminds them that they aren't demons, monsters, or animals either.


"What'cha readin' kid?" Logan asked, sitting down near Rogue's feet on the window seat. He was going to be taking off soon, do some searching for his past. The professor had directed him to a place called Alaklie Lake, so that was where he'd be going.

Marie looked up from her book and smiled at him, slipped in a ribbon bookmark and handed it over.

"A bible?" Logan asked, surprised. "How'd you get one of these in this place?"

It was well known that the professor was an evolutionist. It explained the presence of the so called X-Gene, and the 'mutations' of the people in the school. Religion therefore, pretty much by default, had no place in the Xavier Institute.

"I went into the city and found a book shop," she said, smiling slightly. "The professor either doesn't know, or doesn't mind that I have it," she added, holding out her hand for Logan to give it back.

Logan nodded and returned it, then rearranged the way he was sitting on the window seat so that he was closer to her – pulling her legs over his lap and leaning into the corner so that their shoulders brushed.

"So which part were you readin'?"

Rogue smiled and opened the bible again using her ribbon bookmark.

"Well, yesterday I read Ecclesiastes, and now I'm nearly done reading One Thessalonians," she said, her fingers drifting down the page until they reached chapter five, verse fourteen.

"That where you're up to?" Logan asked.

Marie nodded. "'And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.'"

There was a little more, but she stopped reading aloud there and looked back up at Logan.

He cocked a small smile at her. "Sounds a little idealistic," he said. "Especially since I'm sure life wasn't always easy for them either."

Marie nodded.

"What brought about this particular choice in reading material anyway?" Logan asked. "What with the professor's talk of evolution and mutation, wouldn't have picked you for it."

Marie smiled a little. "I've gone to church every Sunday just about all my life," she told him. "I figure God's entitled to tinker with His creation whenever and however He wants to. I just... needed some thinkin' time about why He'd give me what He did," she added, closing the book in her lap once more and staring at her gloved hand.

Logan smiled a little. "I know why," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Because if you didn't have that, I would never have met you, or cared about you so much, an' if that hadn't happened, I'd still be pretty much where I was when you found me."

Rogue smiled up at him and snuggled a little closer into his embrace. "Thanks Logan," she said quietly. "I guess, if I didn't have this..." she didn't say what, she didn't want to say 'mutation', 'curse' or 'gift'. None of them really fit. Neither did 'condition' or anything else. "Then I wouldn't know you as well as I did either. Havin' you in my head is..."

"A pain in the ass?" Logan suggested, when he saw Marie struggling to find with words.

She shook her head. "No," she said. "It makes me feel safe, to know that even if you're not around, you're still lookin' out for me," she admitted. "You give good advice," she added with a small smile.

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What have you needed advice on?"

Rogue laughed quietly. "Well, I've got a good running commentary on what the different boys in class are like from the male perspective, and I have a good idea of what really bugs you about some of the girls in my class as well. You also give good tips for when I've got class in the Danger Room," she added. "You've really got some great moves."

Logan chuckled with her then, pulling her closer still for just a moment.

"It's nice to hear you comforting me when I wake up from a nightmare as well," Marie said quietly as she buried her face against Logan's chest.

"Nightmares?" he asked, something in his heart and lungs pulling tight at that word.

"Some are yours, some are Magnetos, some are mine," she admitted. "Magneto doesn't talk much in my head, except in history class," she added by way of some small reassurance.

"Marie," Logan started softly, his tone riddled with regret and apology. "I'd do anything to take those nightmares away from you, you know that, right? I just couldn't bare the thought of you being dead."

"I know Logan," she assured him. "I'm not sorry I'm alive, I'm more sorry that you have those nightmares too." She opened the bible in her lap again, this time closer to the middle, and flicks through the pages until she comes to Ecclesiastes chapter four, and read out verses nine through to twelve. "'Two are better than one, because they have good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.' I kinda liked that when I read it the other day," she said. "Made me think of us."

"I'm leavin' tomorrow," Logan admitted quietly. "Goin' ta find out more about my past if I can."

Marie turned the pages back a little and rested her fingers against another verse – chapter one, verse eighteen. "'For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.' I don't want you to go," she said quietly. "But if you think you really have to," she continued, looking up at him. "Then I want to come to."

Logan smiled at her. "I guess you'd better pack then," he said, standing up from the window seat and pulling her up with him.

Marie smiled and gave him a quick, tight squeeze before running off up the stairs to her room.

"What's got her so happy?" Storm asked, a smile tugging at her lips. "I haven't seen a smile that big on the girl since you two got here."

"I told her I'd take her with me when I leave tomorrow," Logan said. "Does this school have a distance program?"

Storm stared at him for a moment, completely incredulous, then chuckled and smiled at him again.

"Guess we'd better go see the professor," she said, heading off down the hall and waving for him to follow.

Logan grinned. Him and his rogue angel would soon be on their way.

~**The END**~


End file.
